Halo Chronicles: The Odd Squad
by Forgotten Spartan
Summary: When a newly appointed grunt, jackal, and elite discover the secret behind Halo, the three become rouge soldiers. Hunted down by the Covenant and being mistaken for hostiles by the UNSC, the three do all that they can to stop the launch of the Halo rings.
1. Heroes Revealed

**Chapter 1: Heroes Revealed**

**Author's notes: Hey everyone, this is my first fan fiction. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the story. By the way, this story takes place during Halo 2, a bit before Thel became the Arbiter. **

"Newly appointed grunt member, Fredric Yarp!" yelled a brute chieftain, over the roaring engine of a covenant phantom drop ship. He held a clipboard to his face, calling his attendance to make sure no one in his unit was attempting to avoid the mission.

"Here", yelled an overly enthusiastic grunt, trying to be heard over the load reactors of the air craft. He had his hand in the air, and was shaking it from side to side. He wore the standard grunt minor amour and pyramid breathing tank, along with wielding a single plasma pistol and several plasma grenades. He assumed they expected him to go suicide, due to the extra explosives. Even though he knew this, he would do as he was expected, for the great journey.

The brute sighed and mumbled to himself, "I hate this job", and he continued to read the names on his clipboard. "Newly appointed jackal member, Keiar Gangsta"!

A jackal slapped his face with one of his hands, "its pronounced Gengesta!" yelled Keiar. He, too, wore a uniform that represents him as a minor in his rankings. He was wielding a plasma pistol and a standardized jackal defense gauntlet. He wasn't as excited for this mission as most others were. He had found out that most, if not all, of the mission assigned to small divisions were either slaughtering a human base or small things that could benefit the covenant in brining them closer to the great journey. He realized the covenant doesn't care for the lives lost in battle.

The brute simply grunted, and continued to call the names on his list. "Newly appointed elite member, Seth Karant," said the brute.

"Here", said elite. He calmly raised his hand, and then dropped it unceremoniously. He acted as though the mission he was about to embark on was nothing special, as though it were a normal day. He wore the standard elite minor armor that provided an over shield that can deflect incoming enemy fire, and was wielding a single plasma rifle. The standard weapons for an elite his specific rank.

The brute checked off the last name on his checklist. After double checking to make sure everyone was here, he threw the clipboard, uncaringly, over his shoulders. "Alright, everyone get into the drop ship. This mission isn't gonna finish itself. One by one the troops piled into the covenant drop ship. The vessel was occupied by five grunts, four jackals, two elites and the single brute chieftain.

The belly thrusters of the phantom roared to life, lifting them higher in altitude. Once they had reached a desired height, the phantom's main thrusters activated. After they had gathered enough power, they propelled them selves out of one of the docking bays in High Charity.

After a moment of silence the chieftain spoke up, "Alright, listen up maggots. Look at you little sh*its, after are last few missions I've come to realize that you all are the worst group of fighters I've ever seen. And now they give us these three," he said pointing at Fredric, Keiar and Seth. "But, let's put that in the past. This is a chance to prove your selves to me, and the prophets, by completing this mission," he concluded.

Fredric raised his hand, with an index finger pointing upwards. "Um, what exactly is the mission?" asked Fredric. If he were to redeem himself for reasons he can't remember, he at least wanted to know what they were about to face.

The brute put his hands behind his back, "I'm glad you asked, rookie," he paused for a moment. The others stared at him for a moment, until he finally spoke up, "Halo."

**Author's notes: I know this chapter is a bit short, but I wanted to get some people's opinions on the story in general before I continued. So please review and leave some comments.**

**Never forget the Forgotten Spartan **


	2. Arrival

**Chapter 2: Arrival **

**Author's notes: Chapter two everybody, Yeah! Thanks to everyone who left positive reviews for chapter one. Now, enjoy the battle of Halo.**

Whispers began to spread among the units in the covenant phantom. Every soldier, engineer, and citizen in the covenant knew about the story of Halo. The demon had, single handedly, blown up the sacred Halo ring. When the ring blew up, everyone had their doubts that they'd get their second chance with the great journey. Apparently, they were wrong.

"What do you mean by Halo? As in, we've found another sacred ring? asked one of the elites on the ship. The elite was, slightly, in a higher ranking than Seth, a ranger. His body armor was similar too Seth's, but a closed helmet with a blue visor. Usually the highest ranking elite on a mission would be in the zealot range. However, now that the prophets favored the brutes there is no need for an elite ranking higher than an ultra.

"You heard me right, a second Halo ring," replied the brute chieftain, crossing his arms over his chest. "Our mission takes place there. We were ordered to attack a small group of humans who've set up a base there," concluded the brute.

Keiar spoke up, "but why such a small group of humans? On the first Halo ring they made a large effort in the ring's destruction. Surly the humans must have reinforcements." It was true. A lone human ship once had escaped the glassing of one of their largest military research facility planets. When a covenant ship went to pursuit it, they quickly evacuated the ship, landing their escape pods on the ring. From that point on the humans showed a large resistance after crashing. During that time, one of the human's champions made their way to the controls of Halo, and eradicated the ring.

"We believe that, during a space battle, one of the human ships was shot down. The survivors who made their way to the escape pods, or should I say, drop pods. As the humans call them," the brute did the motion with his index and middle finger where they would complete a clenched fist. "They must have directed their course to the Halo ring, where our mission takes place. We believe that they haven't any reinforcements because their communications are broken," the chieftain said.

"But why are we sending such a small assault on the humans? If we've found another Halo then why not send the entire Covenant armada. Isn't the great journey the only reason for our existence?" asked Fredric.

"Too be sure. Incase the humans have a larger force than we anticipated. If these heretics on the ring do have communications, they would be able to contact their entire fleet. If we were to use up all of our resources on the Halo ring, the humans could major locations with their ships, such as High Charity," replied the brute.

'Humph', thought Seth. 'Once again the Covenant continues to show their arrogance. The Covenant still underestimates the humans because of their lack of technology or faith. However, the humans in the past have proven to be resourceful and worthy foes. It's understandable that we don't send out the entire fleet, but it would have been wiser to send more troops other then reporting back.'

Hours passed as the Covenant phantom continued its course towards Halo. The entire crew of the drop ship remained silent. The thought of another Halo still left them in thought. Would there be another chance at the great journey? Would they finally achieve the level of the gods? These are the things flowing through their minds. They continued to wait, until the pilot of the drop ship broke the silence, "your excellence, we've arrived."

Every trooper in the phantom seemed to react to his statement. They all instantly jumped, as if they've seen the demon. The brute walked up to the pilot of the drop ship, "where?" said the brute simply said.

The elite pointed forward. Behind the piloting glass cockpit of the vessel floated a giant ring in space. It slowly rotated in a clockwise direction. The pilot spoke up, "my, isn't it a sight?" he looked at the brute chieftain.

"Just get this drop ship landed, corporal," ordered the chieftain.

"Of course your excellence", replied the pilot. The chieftain walked away as the pilot typed in multiple commands on the phantom's controls.

The brute walked back to his troopers, "good news, maggots, we're approaching the Halo ring. Prepare for drop in ten minutes." The chieftain turned his back to his units, and walked into the drop ships cockpit.

After what seemed like an hour of waiting, the phantom drop ship began to enter Halo's atmosphere. The sky turned from jet black into a morning blue. The phantom gently descended near the surface of Halo. The phantom's belly thrusters activated, and the ship slowed it's decent. The flying vessel hovered above the ground, dirt was being scattered below the phantom. The two side doors of the drop ship opened, exposing a unit of covenant troopers.

Keiar was the first to jump out of the covenant drop ship. He jumped a ten foot fall, and landed lightly on his feet. Seth quickly followed, however he made more of a thud when he landed. He wasn't surprised, after all jackals were more agile. The rest of the covenant troops followed afterwards. However, he noticed a specific annoyance missing. "Where's Fredric?" asked Keiar, looking at Seth.

Seth looked up for a moment, then back at Keiar. He raised his arms, and pointed an index finger upwards. Keiar seemed confused at first, but then he looked up. He saw Fredric yelling as his flailing body fell from the drop ship. He landed hard on his stomach, about a foot in front of Keiar. "Ouch," he moaned softly.

Keiar looked down at him. "Um," he said, scratching the back of his head. "Are you alright?" he asked, having a bit of concern in his voice. Funny though, he'd never shown sympathy to any one before, what made him different?

Fredric raised an arm to the sky, while still lying down on his stomach. "I'll- tell you- when- I- see the X-rays (The dashes stand for short pauses)," he said, with a weak voice. He slowly got back up to his feet. He attempted to crack his back by pushing his arms on his spine. After a moment he let out a loud cracking noise. His eyes instantly widened, and then eased back to normal. "Got to work on my landing", he said as a rubbed his back.

Now that the commotion calmed down, Keiar got a chance to notice his surroundings. The surface of Halo was, surprisingly, ineffable. The ring of Halo was covered in lush green grass. The location where they had landed was surrounded by a body of crystal clear water. A large mountain stood in the center of the island, and was covered with trees of all sorts. Keiar looked up, and saw the ring gently curve upward towards the sky. He may be forced to fight for a cause that he gave no care for, but at least he could enjoy the peace and serenity, for now at least. He looked up again, and saw three more covenant phantom drop ships provide them with reinforcements. More covenant troops joined their party in killing the humans.

The chieftain broke the silence, "alright maggots, listen up. I want you all to split up into equal squad units, containing a single elite trooper, two jackals and three grunts. We should have five squads, judging by our numbers."

All the troopers began forming their small units of six. However, Seth walked up to the brute, "why split up? Maybe it would be wiser to stick into a single group. That way our odds would be greater," suggested Seth.

"Because the humans' communication systems are destroyed, we cannot intercept any of their signals. Because of this issue we cannot locate them by radar. We'll have to do it manually. Splitting up will allow us to find the humans quicker."

"It matters not how quickly we manage to find them. If we cannot intercept any of their messages, they're obviously using close range isolated radios. They cannot contact any reinforcements with those types of transmissions. If we split up, the humans could pick us up one by one," there was a bit of annoyance in Seth's voice. As if he was tired of the Covenant's constant underestimation of the humans, believing that it will be the Covenant's downfall.

The brute glared at the Seth for a moment, and then lunged at him. Seth took the attack by surprise, and was caught in the brute's iron like grip. The chieftain grabbed him by the throat and carried him into the air, lifting him off his feet. He spoke in an angry and intimidating voice, "you are beginning to annoy my, private. I will tell you this once, do as you are told and maybe, just maybe, I won't rip your balls off, got it! The humans are weak; they will be crushed by our force, no matter how small it is!" the brute began to calm down, and let Seth back on his feet. This time he spoke in a calmer voice, "get the new grunt and jackal guys over here. You three will be in my squad, we will be the sixth unit.

Seth walked away from the brute, rubbing his neck lightly. The brute's sudden outrage and surprise attack was not what caught Seth off guard, but he was trained to the limit to obey his superiors and he wasn't about to anger one of them on his first day. He stopped a meter away from Fredric and Keiar. Keiar stood behind Fredric, and feeling the grunt's back. "Does it hurt here?" asked Keiar.

"No," replied Fredric. Seth assumed Keiar was aiding Fredric after his rough fall. Although during his training he'd never seen anyone take the time to aid a fellow grunt member.

Keiar moved his hand slightly to the right on Fredric's back, "How about here?" he asked once again.

Fredric flinched slightly. He let out a small yelp of pain, "Yeah", said the grunt.

"Alright, this might hurt a bit," Keiar removed his hand from Fredric's back, and clenched his palm into a fist. He then punched Fredric's back as hard as he could.

Fredric let out a loud cry of pain, "Ouch!" It took a moment for the grunt to calm down. Fredric rubbed his back lightly, and his expression brightened, "Hey, that worked, I don't feel anything. Thanks Keiar".

The jackal smirked and crossed his arms, "Don't mention it". Keiar turned his head to face Seth.

"The chieftain has assigned you two to his squad. The four of us are moving together as a group to hunt for the humans," explained Seth, looking at the two.

Keiar nodded his head in acknowledgment, and walked past the elite towards the brute.

Fredric looked at the elite, "you sound like you don't like the chieftain's plans."

Seth crossed his arms and shrugged his shoulders, "I have to follow his orders, that is, if I want to keep my balls." Seth turned his back to the grunt and walked to the brute.

Fredric took a quick look down at his pants. He covered the part of his pants, where his balls lay under, with two of his hands and ran right behind Seth, "wait up!"

**Author's Notes: Chapter two, take it or leave it. I wanted to make the chapter longer but I've been piled with school work. Please review.**

**Never forget the Forgotten Spartan**


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